Vabilo na mednarodno konferenco pod pokroviteljstvom CIHA (v angleščini)

Civilisation(s) : The Mediterranean and beyond: Call for papers

26, 27 and 28 June 2014

Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée (MUCEM) - Marseille

Programmed by the Comité français d'histoire de l'art (CFHA), the Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA), the Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée (MUCEM) under the aegis of the Comité International de l'Histoire de l'Art (CIHA)

The conference organized by the Comité français
d'histoire de l'art (CFHA), the Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la
Méditerranée (MUCEM) and the Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA),
under the aegis of the Comité International de l'Histoire de l'Art (CIHA),
takes as its starting point a series of questions shared by art historians and
anthropologists: what defines and constitutes civilisations, what relationships
do they have with one other, and what roles are given to works of art and
"objects of civilisation(s)" within their framework and in these intercultural
exchanges?

How do art history and anthropology, each in their own
disciplinary field and/or by exchanging theoretical tools and methods, deal
with these particularly crucial questions at this time in history? How can we explain that whilst globalisation
highlights a discourse about a universal civilisation, identity-related
idiosyncracies tend to become increasingly rigid?

The Museum of the Civilisations of Europe and the
Mediterranean was born out of a conversion of the Musée des arts et traditions
populaires (the Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions), founded in 1937 by
Georges-Henri Rivière, and the Musée de l'Homme (Museum of Mankind). By holding
the conference at the MUCEM we are therefore encouraging a questioning of the
plurality of civilisations, re-examining the way they have been studied by
historians and anthropologists in the past, how they have been represented in
museums, starting with the Mediterranean.
As some of our fellow art historians from
the Southern bank of the Mediterranean and Africa will join CIHA for the first
for the Marseilles conference, we welcome their contributions.

Yet the questions addressed in the conference will
take us well beyond the limits of the Mediterranean basin. We will give
priority to topics that address general issues about terminology or
methodology, or to topics on specific situations that have similarities with
the Mediterranean case: the interior sea, the insular world, ports as global
cities, spaces of civilisation as meeting places for cultures, etc.

Four
main series of questions and objectives may be identified :

- The first objective of the conference will
be to think about the historiographical uses of the word 'civilisation'
(especially relating to that of 'culture'), as much in art history (Jacob
Burckhardt) as in anthropology (Edward Taylor), whilst taking into account
deconstructions of the notion (Edward Saïd). The political exploitation of the
term over the course of history has led to debates about the use of the word in
its singular form and as an absolute value. Any 'space of civilisations'
becomes an arena for desires to conquer and manifestations of power, which are
incarnated through as many images, symbols and emblems where cultures put
themselves forward as the civilisation.
If a historical and comparativist approach using the term civilisations (plural), or even better places of civilisations (like the Mediterranean) is more pertinent,
what are the theories and methods that the scientific approaches to these
notions are founded upon?

- The second series of questions will concern
identity-related references to civilisations in history and in the contemporary
world. Often twisted as identity tensions, in the Mediterranean as elsewhere,
these references reveal differing perspectives or, at the very least,
stimulating co-existences. A particular emphasis will be placed on the
phenomena of education and the transmission and creation of national narratives
of art history.

- In the third instance, we will consider the
Mediterranean area as a shared forum for civilisations. We will consider papers
dealing with translations, interpretations, adaptations and other
appropriations of prototypes, themes and motifs, as much in the field of works
of art as in that of 'objects of civilisation'. We will question ways and
places of exchange, conveyors, and zones of contact. How do natural and
humanized landscapes, architecture, urban design, objects and decor enter
collective imaginations and myths? But we will also think about the limits of a
sort of universalism, of proclaimed identity markers and differences between
civilisations.

- Finally, by holding the conference in a
museum, MUCEM, which is dedicated to the study and exhibition of the
'civilisations' of Europe and the Mediterranean, means that we are committed to
an in-depth consideration of the distinctions and cross-referencing that can be
established between 'works of art' on the one hand and 'objects of
civilisation', which have no aesthetic intentionality, on the other. Dealing jointly with both types, within the same
museographic space, should reciprocally enrich the history of art and
anthropology as disciplines.

Modalities of participation - deadline for
sending : October 30th 2013

Three files are required
for the application :

1) A proposal for communication, not exceeding 1000 words, in one
of the five official languages of the CIHA (German, English, French, Italian,
Spanish).

2) A summary in English of the
proposal, not exceeding 250 words

3) A selected Curriculum Vitae

These three documents
will be send by email to the following address : Ta e-poštni naslov je zaščiten proti smetenju. Potrebujete Javascript za pogled. before
October 30th 2013

The travel and the accommodation expenses of
the selected candidates will be covered during the Conference.

Scientific Committee :

Edhem Eldem, Professor of
History, Bosphore University, Istanbul

Marzia Faietti, Curator,
Director of the Department of Prints and Drawings,
Uffizi, Florence

Tahar Ghalia, Curator, former
Director of the Bardo National Museum, Tunis

Rémi Labrusse, Professor of
Contemporary Art History, Paris Ouest-Nanterre La Défense University

Organisation Committee :

Denis Chevallier, Curator,
Assistant Director of the MUCEM

Thierry Dufrêne, Professor of
Contemporary Art History, Scientific Secretary of the CIHA

Zahia Rahmani, In charge of
the "Art et Mondialisation" program, INHA

Philippe Sénéchal, Professor
of Modern Art History, President of the CFHA